There currently exists many devices for processing and developing photographic film. These devices range from elaborate, computer controlled automatic equipment to simple containers for use by the amateur photographer in a residential dark room. The more elaborate equipment is generally not available for a small photographic operation because of its expense and size. Thus, the amateur or portrait photographer must use simple, inexpensive equipment.
Despite many improvements over the years, the basic equipment most frequently employed requires the photographer to agitate the film by picking the tank up and inverting it several times. Invariably, the skin irritating chemicals seep around the edges of tank's cover.
Chemical and rinse water solutions must be poured in and out of these tanks as many as ten or more times when color films are being processed. Then the film is washed in water at a suitable temperature. Obviously, chemical contact with the skin is an ever present hazard, particularly under such difficult circumstances. Prior art advances such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,829,575 and 3,886,575 reduce such dangers by the use of casettes or closed containers which house the film and allow the developer to immerse the film in successive baths of chemical solutions. However, these devices are complex structures which are difficult to manufacture and do not provide a simple means for agitating the film while in solution.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide a tank apparatus for housing a photographic film during processing which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and which permits even development of the film without the need of a dark room environment after loading of the film.
It is another major object of this invention to provide a tank apparatus of this type which is structured to allow for efficient and rapid agitation of the film contained therein during processing.